Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an information processing method, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
Recently, an image forming apparatus has various functions, and user operations performed on the image forming apparatus has become highly complicated. Generally, the image forming apparatus is shared by a plurality of users. Thus, an auto-clear function is employed for automatically clearing a setting value when a predetermined period of time has elapsed after an user changed a setting. Thus, the next user can be prevented from using the previous settings for his or her operation without knowing. In such a configuration, a user each time has to select a desired setting screen from an initial menu of the image forming apparatus. Thus, even if a user has a frequently used setting value, the user has to go through a cumbersome procedure of setting in the same way every time.
To solve the issues described above, a customize function has been developed for enabling a user to freely set an initial setting value. However, since the conventional customize functions enables each user to freely customize the setting value as he or she desires, the following issue arises. For example, an administrator would want to set the initial screen, which is initially displayed after login, to be a “management screen” for managing usage records of other users. The customize function of enabling the initial screen to be set to “copy screen” by one user and to “main menu” by another user, might cause the image forming apparatus to be used in a way unwanted by the administrator. Consequently, the administrator would want to set restrictions for customizing, so that the apparatus is not used in a way unwanted by the administrator.
A technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-84019 discusses a customize mode enabling a user to change operation keys in an operation screen as desired from an initial displayed state, and register the changed keys. The technique further enables a specific user, such as an administrator, to set a setting in such a manner that the display state of the operation key cannot be changed from the initial displayed state. Thus, with the technique, restriction can be set for customization by general users in terms of changing a specific display state of the operation key.